Darcy’s Second Chance

by Catherine Jennings

  She turned her head and looked up at him, her lively eyes dancing with curiosity. “What is it, my love? You seem troubled. Personally, I think this passage is rather long-winded.”

  “I was not thinking about the book.”

  “What then?”

  He leaned closer and draped his arm across her shoulders. “Does it unsettle you that we have never discussed what happened at Radcliffe House directly before our engagement?”

  Her features rearranged themselves into a look of great alarm and he felt a huge deal of shame for not considering it before.

  How have I failed to understand? he thought. We have been so busy with the wedding and our return to Pemberley that I never once considered how she must be feeling about what she intended to do.

  “Oh, Elizabeth. My darling. Do you recall what I told you on our wedding day? I would do anything to protect you.” He looked away for a moment at the fire blazing in the grate. She had turned pale and he hated the thought that his words had been the cause of it. “I am aware of what was on your mind the day I first proposed marriage.”

  She froze. “Oh, my darling. Oh no. What must you think of me?”

  He bent to brush a stray hair from her forehead and kissed the spot where it had rested. “I love you more than anything.”

  “How did you come to know? I took care to burn the notes I had written and cast the plants in the lake just as soon as I realised I would not need to carry out what I had planned.” She clasped a hand over her mouth.

  He took her hand and pulled it to his lips, intending to kiss it until he realised how cold and clammy it felt. Instead, he held her hand between his in an attempt to warm it. “You must not worry,” he whispered. “I know exactly what you had planned. I did not realise it at the time—I was so affected by your refusal that I could not think clearly. It was only when I stood at the window and noticed you walking outside before dawn that I knew. When I considered it, I realised what you were doing out there. I had noticed the hemlock, you see. It is extremely dangerous for horses.”

  She flushed. “You knew. And you never said anything.”

  He shook his head. “I thought it was best to let you forget it if that was what you desired. After all, you did not think anyone knew. It has begun to trouble me of late that there are matters we have not discussed, such as what I did to secure your sister’s release. It troubles me that you do not know the truth of what happened and that you might think ill of me because of what you think I have done.”

  She gasped and flung her book on the ground. “How could I think ill of you when I plotted to poison the man? As far as he is concerned, whatever you did was justified.”

  He baulked. “Do you not think your actions were justified? Oh, my dear. You would never have thought of doing something like that had it not been for the threat against your sister and her children.”

  She considered this for a moment. “I was out of my mind with fear and worry, but that is hardly a justification. How can you look at me with such love when you know that?”

  “You did it because those children’s lives were at stake. And your sister’s.”

  She frowned. “Even so. It is hardly the action of a gentlewoman.”

  “You did not act on it.”

  “I would have. I found a book in the library at Radcliffe House. I chose hemlock for its abundance in that part of the country and for its toxicity.” She wrapped her arms around herself and leant forward as if she could hardly bear to recall it. “I knew exactly what I was doing. I picked extra just in case something went wrong with my plan.” She looked up at him. “And you accept this? If it was not for Lydia’s letter later the morning, I would have stolen away in the night and carried out my plan.”

  He pulled her close to him and embraced her. “I would not have allowed it. Why do you think you did not see me in the house that day? I lingered near the stables so that you had no hope of getting away. It was only when Bingley found me and told me the news that I felt comfortable ending my watch. Trust me—I would not have let you leave.

  “And I am very glad you did not put that plan into action. But that is not for the reasons you think. It would have been an honourable act, but it was far too dangerous. I have never met a man as sly and despicable as James Hardy. Too much could have gone wrong. What if he had uncovered your scheme and killed you before the poison acted?”

  She shivered. “I hoped that would not be the case. I planned to use more than was needed, but truthfully I did not see another way out of the debt.”

  He kissed her forehead. “You did not need to find out. That is all that matters. Now. I would like you to know the truth of what happened when I left Radcliffe House for those few days. As you know, I did not return to Pemberley.”

  She looked up at him. “There were lives at stake. The lives of people I adore. I cannot judge you when I intended to take grave action myself. Please believe me when I tell you that nothing you can say now will damage my good opinion of you.”

  “I did not pay Hardy. I considered it, but then I realised that it would be foolish to do so. In any event, when I told him that he could not have Miss Bennet’s hand in marriage even if he waived the whole of the debt, he was aggrieved. He insisted that I pay the full debt within the week or he would sell those children to a friend of his who owns a mine.”

  She gasped.

  “I might have paid it then, but it became clear to me that that would never be the end of it. He must have seen my shock when he told me what he would do if he was not paid.”

  “But you knew. I told you what he planned.”

  Darcy sighed. “You did. But it was very different hearing those evil words from the man himself. It was foolish of me to react—it showed him how attached I was to your family. I have no doubt that—had I paid him—I would soon have received a further demand for payment. And another and still more, until I found myself either penniless or forced to refuse.”

  “So what did you do then? If you did not pay him?”

  At this, Darcy smiled as he recalled the look on Hardy’s face as he realised what had happened. “Well, my dear, I assumed that his cruelty extended to everyone he had dealings with. Look at how he turned on Wickham, who was once his dear favourite. So I was watchful. I took heed of who he spoke to; which of the men appeared to be his most trusted.”

  “Do not tell me you tackled them alone!”

  He smiled. “I did not tackle them! These are brutes and I am under no illusions about my ability to take on men like that. No, my darling. I approached some of them and offered them a sum of money so great that they could not have turned me down even if they cared about Hardy’s fate. I was right, of course. They could not stand the man; there was no loyalty amongst his men. He had treated them as cruelly as he planned to treat your sister’s children. They readily agreed to help me capture him and take him to Portsmouth.”

  “Darcy!” Elizabeth cried. She jumped up from the sofa and stared at him in horror. “How could you do such a thing?”

  “Do not tell me that you now feel some sense of sympathy for the man.”

  “I do not—of course I do not! I cannot tell you how many nights I spent awake and feeling utterly helpless. No, I believe he has earnt every hardship that has now befallen him. I do not care a jot about Hardy’s comfort or quality of life. I care about you! What if it had gone wrong? What would you have done if his men had not agreed to work with you?”

  He considered this for a moment. “There was no other way. If I had brought fighting men, Hardy’s lot would have fought back and they were far more vicious than any men I could have found. No, I soon concluded that their only loyalty lay with the man who paid them. From that deduction it was a simple case of figuring out how much to pay them.”

  “But my dear husband, can you not see the risk you went to? What if they refused you? Or worse, what if they double-crossed you by taking your money and refusing to act when it came down to it?”

  “It was worth it. It
was worth it to bring you peace.”

  “You must be quite mad! All that trouble to bring me peace.”

  He smiled. “Perhaps I was.”

  “You did not even know me!”

  He fell silent. “I cannot explain my actions. At first, my involvement was limited to advising Bingley, but then you arrived. And when I saw you again…” He looked at her. She was even lovelier than ever and he was glad now that he had brought up that dreadful period of their lives. She knew all there was to know about him. More importantly, she knew he would love and cherish her no matter what she did. “Well, I could not stand by and see you suffer.”

  She brushed her lips against his and he felt a burst of love so deep that it was almost an ache. “I do not care for Wickham or Hardy, but I agree. I am glad we both know the truth of what happened.”

  “Yes. Well, in the interests of telling you the whole truth, they ought to have reached New South Wales by now. I entrusted their passage to a man I know well and trust implicitly.”

  “Oh? What if they return?” She shivered despite the warmth of the fire.

  “They will not return,” he said fiercely, feeling another rush of love. He could not explain it fully, but lately he had felt the strongest urge to protect her in small ways, like ensuring she was warm enough and persuading her not to go out walking when the air was cold or it looked as if it might rain.

  “How can you be sure?”

  “Because.” He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. “I have not only charged my friend with their passage but with spreading the word at the docks there that those two men should never be allowed onto a ship bound for England.”

  He looked down at her and saw that her eyelids had grown heavy. Even so, she seemed to be resisting sleep. “You must rest, my dear. We can discuss it further in the morning if you wish.”

  Her eyes flew open. She craned her neck and frowned up at him. “What in the name of all that is good are you talking about, Fitzwilliam Darcy? You have spent the whole week ordering me to wrap up even though the weather is still mild. Next you will be sending me to bed with a cold compress and instructions to rest until further notice.”

  He smiled at her indulgently. She protested for a while, but her eyes soon started to close again and he knew from her silence that she was sleeping. He sat back carefully so as not to wake her. He sat like that for a long time, holding her and watching the fire. He was the happiest man in the world.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “Oh, do tell me again Lizzy!”

  Lydia pouted. “She has told that tiresome tale so many times that I fear I shall fall asleep if I have to hear it once more!”

  None of the others gave any indication of having heard her, except for Anne who smiled indulgently at her companion. “You must hear what Lydia said in the chapel last Sunday. It was frightfully amusing.”

  Anne de Bourgh garnered more of a reaction than Lydia had, but still no-one could be compelled to listen to another of the latter’s rather self-centred tales.

  “Perhaps later, my dear cousin,” Darcy said fondly.

  Anne smiled back at him across the table.

  Elizabeth caught the look between cousins and shook her head discreetly. She could not believe the change that the quiet Miss de Bourgh had undergone since the last time she had seen her years before.

  She had always been a rather sickly young woman and her health had not improved much in the intervening years. She was still far more prone to illness than anyone else Elizabeth had ever met. Lydia’s arrival had not changed her health as much as it had changed her attitude. Miss de Bourgh was no longer quiet and withdrawn. Lydia and the children had brought a new boisterousness to her; one that Elizabeth would not have believed had she not seen it with her own eyes.

  Of course, not all of Hunsford was pleased by Lydia’s presence. Their sister Mary had withdrawn into herself even further, having become consumed with irritation at her sister’s continued good fortunes. It often seemed to Mary that her younger sister’s immoral conduct had landed her in a better position than Mary’s own, for Lydia was scarcely required to do a stitch of work at Rosings. Her only duty was to amuse Miss de Bourgh, something they all agreed Lydia was rather good at. Mary, on the other hand, was lumbered with the darning and mending and sowing of the rectory, and her ever-growing family. She attended to this with a great deal of complaint, and scarcely a letter was received at Longbourn that did not mention her great burden. Her family had long been familiar with Mary’s sense of martyrdom and her habit of seeking out situations that might allow her to complain, so no-one felt too much sympathy for her.

  “Yes, do tell it again,” Bingley added, glancing at his friend across the table and smiling.

  “I suppose we have not heard it before,” Anne concluded, glancing cautiously at Lydia.

  To their great surprise, Lydia did not huff and groan like she might have been expected to in the past. She squeezed Anne’s hand and nodded. “Very well, my dear. Yes, please do tell it, Lizzy.”

  Elizabeth had to fight back her astonishment before she could speak. Was it possible that Miss de Bourgh was not the only one who had benefitted from her new companion’s presence? They had never known Lydia to be so humble when someone disagreed with her—especially in public.

  I must tell papa. He shall not believe it! she thought.

  She was prevented from reflecting on it further by a chorus of agreement from around the table.

  “Come on, Lizzy!”

  She smiled as a warm swell of love swept through her at this outpouring of love from her family. A little under a year before they had been unable to see a way out of their problems. Now they all sat around the table at Rosings, happy and replete. It was astonishing really.

  “Lizzy!”

  “Oh, very well!” she said, smiling around the table and them and looking shyly up at Darcy. “Though I do believe my husband tells it better.”

  “Nonsense.”

  “I must agree with Darcy on this one,” Bingley said, feigning an apologetic look. “I have heard both renditions and Mrs. Darcy’s is the better of the two by a long way.”

  “Thank you, Charles,” she whispered. “Well, I apologise to those of you who have heard this story told too many times, but you all did rather insist.”

  Darcy shifted in his seat. “It is not possible to hear it too many times.”

  “Oh my dear brother! How sentimental. You are fortunate, Lizzy.”

  An expectant hush fell over the rest of the group. She waited until a footman had taken away the last of the plates before she began.

  “It was only a couple of months after we were married. We were still getting used to each other, I suppose, but I must admit I still found it rather curious. You see, Fitzwilliam went from wanting to bring me on daily walks in the grounds at Pemberley and insisting I should join him on horseback to improve my riding, to wondering if I was comfortable and ordering me to rest. Naturally, I railed against this advice and wondered what on earth had gotten into my husband to cause such a dramatic change in his nature. Often I wondered if I had grown old without my knowledge and this was how he was treating me, like one might treat a frail spouse.”

  There was a murmur of laughter around the table as all pondered the absurdity of that as well as the thoroughly uncharacteristic nature of Elizabeth’s inability to work out the cause of her husband’s shift in attitude. No-one spoke, of course—not even Lydia. The truth was Jane had heard the story often but the others had heard it only a handful of times, and all were eager to hear it again.

  “If I am honest, it irked me somewhat,” Elizabeth went on, smiling fondly at her husband as she recalled her annoyance at his continued coddling. “He would insist on turning back after we had walked about five minutes. And how he reacted when I mentioned that I would like to explore the largest hill in the area! I was not long at Pemberley and my chief concern was exploring as many of the paths as possible and becoming familiar with the pl
ace. Then I was ill for a time and my dear husband’s ministrations only heightened in intensity! My goodness, at one point he was adamant I should remain in bed to rest and only eat broth! We almost came to blows!”

  “And then, of course, you all know what happened. My illness became rather protracted and my dear husband implored me to see the doctor. I agreed, of course, if only to calm him. I believed it was a simple ailment. But it was not.” At this, she could not stop herself from smiling widely. Ah, what a joyous memory it was!

  “Of course, the doctor was in agreement with my husband. It was no illness. Rather, I was with child. How Darcy could have known that, of course, is utterly beyond me because I endured at least a month of his careful treatment before I showed any physical signs of illness or other indicators.”

  Miss de Bourgh gasped, seemingly captivated by the story. “My goodness! That is astonishing! How did you know, cousin? Is it true she gave no signs of it?”

  Darcy looked characteristically calm. “I cannot recall,” he murmured, finding himself suddenly the centre of attention around the table. “It was no one thing that… I suppose I felt protective of my wife.”

  “You must have known,” Jane gushed. “You must have. There is no other explanation for it. My sister is not the type of person that one feels naturally bound to protect.”

  “I have always felt protective of her.”

  Elizabeth looked away and smiled. It was true, of course. He had been. From almost the first moment of their reacquaintance, he had acted in her interests and often at great cost to himself. She looked back and found him watching her. She could read his expression. He had implored her that day to keep the truth of what had happened to Hardy and Wickham to herself. And she had obeyed readily, thinking it an immensely small price for everything he had done for her family. To this day, the Bingleys and Collinses believed that Hardy had had a change of heart and Wickham had been sent to a debtor’s prison. Lydia had never asked and Elizabeth had never brought up the subject of her sister’s wayward husband.